Clarity
by kaitothegreat
Summary: Kaito can't remember dates well.


Clarity

Kaito can't remember dates well.

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><p><em>Why the hell are people giving out chocolates for free?<em>

But that thought soon vanished to the back of his mind when another girl suddenly approached towards him, shoving her chocolates to the pile in his hand before dashing off with a red face. He blinked, watching the unknown girl go and stared down at the chocolates before he beamed.

_I guess today's just my lucky day!_

His jealous friends didn't hold back their sarcastic remarks, claiming they hoped he would get diarrhea for eating so much hand-made chocolates. Kaito couldn't understand their weird behavior and offered them some of his chocolates, to only get them more angry and irritated.

Still not getting their reasons and not bothering to know them either, he left the classroom, leaving his frustrated friends to get a drink for himself. That was when he noticed Aoko right outside their classroom with a worried look on her face.

"Eh, Aoko!"

Aoko froze in her position and slowly turned around in a robot fashion. Her lips twitched and her eyes widened when she realized who called her name.

"K-K-Kaito?"

He walked up towards her and they stood there for a second when their attention were directed to the voices beside them.

"Takashi-kun! This is for you! Please accept them!"

"T-Thank You! I-I too, accept your feelings!"

The girl's face lit up so brightly that Kaito cringed and he turned back to Aoko, no longer interested in the commotion beside them. "What's with today? Everyone is giving chocolates to everyone."

Aoko widened her eyes. "W-What? You don't know?"

"Am I missing something?"

She gaped at him and he stared back at her.

"Nothing, nothing at all." She glowered at him. "Today's just chocolate-giving day."

Kaito gave a satisfied look. "That's what I thought originally! I can't believe my stupid answer is actually correct." He put out his hand and she stared at it incredulously. "So, where's mine?"

"W-Where's what?"

"Where's my chocolate? Aren't you going to give me one?"

Her face turned bright pink. "I'm not giving you any!" She stuck out her tongue and ran back into the classroom.

Kaito raised an eyebrow. "What the heck?" He shook his head and made his way to the vending machine.

Before he went home that day, Kaito decided to drop by at the mall. As he was heading to the shop where he wanted to buy his stuff from, he passed by a store with a huge sign hanging above a few large tables with all sorts of chocolates lined up neatly in boxes.

_"Valentines' Day Special! 70% Offer! All Must Go!"_

He blinked, his mouth turning to the shape of an O as realization dawned over him.

.

.

When the digital clock in his bedroom showed 4pm, Kaito just woke up from bed.

Well technically, it _was_ a Saturday. Furthermore, he had a heist yesterday in the middle of the night and it was more tiring than he could ever imagined. The only thing that stopped him from continuing sleeping was because he was hungry and also needed to pee.

Kaito grudgingly prepared himself for morning/evening and when he was sitting infront of his empty kitchen table, he felt like something was missing.

"Hmmm." He strained his eyes at his glass table. The table stared back at him.

He scratched his stomach lazily, deciding he couldn't be bothered and gave up thinking on the spot. His stomach grumbled again and he walked to the kitchen instead and tried to rummage through his cabinets to find something to eat.

That was when he finally remembered.

_The table was empty. It shouldn't be empty. It should have a cake. Cake?_

Kaito widened his eyes, his hand dropping to his side as he leaned against the kitchen counter.

_Today is Aoko's birthday._

He breathed out a cursed word and rushed to his phone which he probably discarded it somewhere in his room. When he found it, he realized that he had a few missed calls and text, but none of them were from Aoko.

When he noted that one of them was from Keiko, he opened it the first.

_'It's Aoko's birthday today! Last year, you told me to remind you this year in case you forgotten about it like a jerk again!'_

At least this time, he remembered it on his own. But those petty and pathetic self-comforting words were meant for himself and definitely not for Aoko.

He threw his phone aside after reading the remaining messages and knowing that none of them were as important as Keiko's. He took in a deep breath, trying to ignore his grumbling stomach and get his brain working again.

A second ticked by and his brain was already operating and yelling at himself for being a douche and that he should hurry to Aoko's house, or wherever she possibly was, at that instant.

But still, he decided to just go to her house without even checking if she was really at home. They were close neighbors after all, it was just a minute walk to her house, no harm done.

He changed himself, stood in the living room for ten minutes as he thought of the perfect gift in his mind and headed out after he was full prepared to face Aoko with that guilty yet sincere face he was planning to show her.

When he reached her doorsteps and noted how quiet her house was, he wondered if Aoko could have possibly held a party somewhere else, perhaps a restaurant or Keiko's house. But when he glanced up to the second floor, he noted that Aoko's curtains were drawn up.

Confidently, Kaito began ringing her doorbell. Of course he knew she was at home just by looking if her bedroom curtains were drawn up or not, because he was her best friend, though disregarding the fact that he couldn't even remember her birthday.

The door opened and Aoko was standing there with a surprised look on her face.

"Kaito?"

"Yo!" He waved with a hand before he scratched the side of his cheeks, embarrassed.

"Yo..." Aoko slowly blinked. "You're here...?" She gave a doubtful look.

"Ok. I have to admit. I almost forgot about your birthday. Almost. And I woke up late today, so..."

Aoko gave a nonchalant wave of hand. "I know. I wasn't expecting anything actually since this isn't the first time you forgotten my birthday." She gave a tiny glare before she continued. "There was a lot of homework over the weekends and holding a birthday party would be childish for that, even though I liked them but I guess the others should be pretty busy anyway today so I-"

He didn't allow her to finish her endless rambling and pulled out the present from his back, tilting it towards her. "Happy Birthday."

Aoko stared at the bouquet of roses in Kaito's hand. There were 11 roses, but he wasn't going to tell her that, in case she asked him what the number represents. He didn't need to get himself into that state, yet.

Tentatively, her fingers wrapped around the end of the bouquet as she scrutinized the flowers before looking up at Kaito.

"No fancy tricks?"

"No fancy tricks."

"Is this going to turn into a huge candy floss?"

"No, it's not going to turn into a huge candy floss."

She eyed him skeptically and all he gave back was a toothy grin. They continued like this for a few seconds until Aoko decided to give in and sighed, her face fell lax before brightening with a warm smile that gave a weird twisty feeling in Kaito's stomach. Although that feeling was different from how his stomach usually begged for food, he still decided it was the reason behind that.

"Thank you Kaito. They're really... pretty and lovely."

"Well, it's your birthday. Anything for the queen."

She rolled her eyes and turned her head away, hoping to hide that blush on her face but Kaito obviously caught it. "Keep your cheesy lines for people who are ridiculous like you."

Kaito wanted to comment about her blush but he bit his tongue, thinking he should just act ignorant like always to save her from further embarrassment. He liked watching Aoko's angry and embarrassed but there was always a limit for it. Also, he wouldn't want her landing her fist on his nose today.

He just shrugged in response. "Anywhere you want to go?"

Aoko pondered seriously at the moment before her lips cracked into a smile. "Can we go ice skating?"

"Anywhere but ice skating."

"Then how about that seafood restaurant that just opened last week at the mall?"

"You're going to order all sorts of fish dishes, aren't you? I can tell from that stupid smile you're giving."

Aoko chuckled behind the bouquet of roses and Kaito turned away. This time, it was his turn to hide that weird heat that was threatening to go from the back of his neck and to his face.

"Fine. How about the park? The view of the Touto tower from there is amazing."

"That seems the best."

When Aoko went up to change into her nicer clothes to go out, Kaito quickly called Jii-chan on the phone, asking him to prepare some fireworks by the Touto Tower and cut the call when she was fully prepared much faster than he thought.

He then smiled to himself at how wonderful tonight would be.

.

.

Kaito shoved his two hands in his pocket and gave a warm smile that could have melted the snow. But it didn't, because everyone thought that smile on his face was real and the only person who knew it was fake was already dead.

It had been 20 years and 20 years, he always remembered that date. He stared dully at the lone rose on the grave before him.

"It's cold now." He said. "Aren't you going to knit me an ugly sweater or something? And then force me to wear it even if I don't want to?"

There was no reply, just a small yet the coldest wind that Kaito thought he experienced brushed across his cheeks and he shivered.

"Always giving me the cold shoulders, that's harsh, you know?" Kaito softly muttered and closed his eyes, forcing himself to never let that tear to fall.

It had been 20 years and 20 years, he always wanted to forget that date. He clenched his fist and shut his eyes, praying silently to himself that everything before him wasn't real and that the rose he just placed on the grave would disappear and a girl would be holding onto it instead, with that usual and healthy blush on her cheeks.

But he opened his eyes, everything was still the same and his chest would ache so terribly that he thought he could just die.

He didn't want to remember this date. The date when she died. The date when she was lying lifelessly in his arms, blood pooling on his shirt, his lap, his body as he screamed and screamed and screamed out her name that he couldn't say when he was in his white uniform.

"Aoko." His lips trembled.

Her name stared back at him.

Kaito clenched his eyes and bit his lips.

"I need you to remind me our anniversary date. I need you to remind me that Valentine's day is coming. I need you to remind me about yours and my birthday. I need you to remind me a lot of dates, but not this date. Not today."

Another cold wind blew by again.

He needed her. But she was gone. And just by thinking about it made him feel like a truck just ran over him.

So he stopped thinking about how she wasn't here anymore and talked to her about the things that happened since he last visited her. He told her about how Hakuba just became a dad, how Keiko got her 12th boyfriend, how their annual High school class gathering went... and then it soon leaded to how he missed her, how he loved her, how he could never forget her, how he wished that he could save her, how he wished he was never Kaitou Kid.

And so, he stood there for the next few hours and left, with nothing but today's date tattooed on his heavy heart.

.

.

end

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><p>AN:  
>ohmahgawd did you guys see the new op for the anime i wheezed so hard omg kaito is so hot<br>and yeah, the op actually made me feel like updating for a change hehe, hopefully that can happen for my on-going stories soon too *crosses fingers*  
>and yooo, cheers for angst! I don't think this tragedy is needed but thinking of a happy ending seems harder for me actually so yay.<br>reviews are appreciated!


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